Under some circumstances, a driver of a vehicle may be required to pilot a vehicle into an optimal or a required parking or docking position by maneuvering the vehicle in a reverse direction. The optimal parking or docking of the vehicle may be complicated by a location, a position, or poor visibility conditions in which the driver of the vehicle is required to perform the parking or docking.
For example, when parking or docking the vehicle in poor visibility, the driver of the vehicle may not be able to fully identify a point around which the vehicle should be pivoted in order to achieve optimal parking or docking. In addition, the driver's ability to fully discern a plane along which the vehicle should be piloted for optimal parking or docking may be significantly impaired. As a result, poor visibility may cause the driver of the vehicle to erroneously park or dock the vehicle, thereby increasing an amount of time required to optimally park or dock the vehicle and a likelihood of an occurrence of a parking or docking accident.
The proposed marker light may emit a bright light upward through the top of a dome to pinpoint substantially an optimal location around which a driver should articulate the vehicle during parking or docking. Moreover, this bright up-light emission may be used when docking or parking a vehicle requires a turn in the middle of the docking or parking process; i.e., when an articulate vehicle ideally needs to be articulated around the optimal pivot location to ensure appropriate alignment of the vehicle when parked or docked in the reverse direction.
Additionally, the marker light may emit a laser light through a slot on a side of the dome. The slot of the dome may allow the laser light to be emitted such that a laser sheet or wall is projected along a plane next to which a properly parked or docked vehicle is substantially parallel to the plane formed by the laser sheet. Thus, during the docking or parking process, a driver may be able to successfully park or dock the vehicle around the bright up-light emission and along the developed laser wall during the parking or docking process. Furthermore, if the vehicle interrupts the laser wall during the parking or docking process, laser light from the projected laser sheet will be scattered thereby alerting the driver to an improper parking or docking maneuver prompting the driver to stop. The driver can re-negotiate the next maneuver to correct the current parking angle such that the laser wall is not interrupted, thereby allowing for substantial proper parking or docking of the vehicle.
During times where poor visibility conditions exist, it requires 1 person to provide turning signals the driver in order to secure a proper reverse dock or park of the vehicle. If there is one person only, the driver has to get in and out of the vehicle to understand where and how to negotiate the next maneuver—most likely several times—in order to yield proper parking or docking of a vehicle. This iterative process eventually leads to proper parking or docking of the vehicle.
That said, there is a need for a device that will facilitate efficient docking or parking of a semi-tractor trailer vehicle where only the driver is present in times of poor visibility.